Ignite
by Gomboc123
Summary: Roy stops by Riza's apartment to help give her some time to relax, but is met by smoke pouring out of the cracks of her door frame. Written for Royai Week 2016 day 6.


A/N:Happy day 6 of Royai week! I feel kind of bad for not posting anything yesterday, but tomorrow's fic is going to be a lot longer than what I've been posting so far, so hopefully it'll even out.

I honestly don't know whether to categorize this as angst of fluff, so I guess it's a little bit of everything today! I hope you enjoy, and reviews are always welcome!

* * *

Now that dinner had been successfully placed in the oven, Riza finally able to collapse onto her couch face-first. It had been an impossibly long day, and all she wanted to do was sleep. The timer on the oven would alert her when she needed to take her food out, so Riza allowed her eyes to droop down and her muscles to finally relax. It didn't matter that she was still in her uniform; she was going to pass out if she stayed on her feet.

Sleep shrouded Riza like a thick fog, and almost immediately after she'd lain down, Riza lost consciousness. She knew she had paperwork to finish, and a report to write and submit about a mission she'd recently been on, but her muscles were cramped and sore and tired. She wanted to fling her pen into the sun every time she looked at it.

Black Hayate yipped once, probably begging for a treat or some scraps, but Riza simply did not have the energy to deal with him at the moment, and ignored the Shiba.

Possibly in retaliation to the lack of attention he was receiving, Hayate jumped onto the couch with his owner. He didn't know exactly where to go, since Riza had managed to take up the entire thing, so he eventually decided that he would just take his old spot, obstructions be damned.

It startled Riza at first to realize that her dog had nestled down onto her head, like a cat, and she almost shooed him off. But he was just… So warm… And he blocked out the noise from the street outside… And she didn't have the energy to discipline him…

So Riza figured Hayate would get uncomfortable after a few minutes of lounging on her hard head and get up, and she passed out once more, not particularly caring about anything.

* * *

By the time Roy arrived at Riza's apartment, he had already managed to drop by the bakery and pick up some of Riza's favorite cookies. He'd paid the extra money to have them wrapped up with a little bow on top. And he'd resisted the urge to eat anything out of the package.

Roy knew that Riza had been working ridiculous overtime lately, having been put on both an undercover mission, and also having paperwork pile up on her desk. The fact that the woman just continued along as if nothing abnormal was happening astounded Roy. He would be falling asleep at his desk, or resort to desperate measures like sleeping in the office in order to cut out the time he'd spend driving from home and getting dressed. Riza did none of these things, and came in to work every day at the same time, managed not to collapse at her desk, and went home, a neat, gigantic pile of papers in her hand.

Even though Riza Hawkeye looked completely normal, healthy, and unfatigued to the average man, it was very obvious to Roy that she wasn't getting nearly enough sleep. It was in all the small details that he could see the changes in his stalwart Lieutenant. Her uniform usually remained immaculately pressed and cleaned, but now harbored wrinkles and tiny dirt stains that should have been easy to remove. Her reflexes, though still better than anyone else on the team's, had slowed significantly; Havoc had thrown a paper airplane at her head, and the thing had managed to graze her. Riza's hair slowly slipped out of her brown clip throughout the day, probably from a quick job putting it all up. Her skin was not usually so pale that her brown eyes seemed to stand out so darkly, and her uniform seemed bluer than the sky. And Riza just talked so much less. It wasn't like she was normally a chatterbox, but the woman usually had something more than "yes" and "no" to contribute to any conversation.

Therefore, Roy knew he was overworking her, and even though they were all being overworked, Riza had somehow managed to get the worst of it. Even when she was younger, her calm, quiet demeanor masked her displease with whatever she did, and her impassive face made everyone think the woman was invincible. Well, she was definitely close to invincible, but Roy realized that even though her limits were hard to reach, they still existed. He had no idea what he'd do without Riza's stoic professionalism in completing tasks, but if she managed to burn herself out, he'd be even more lost.

So Roy brought cookies, and even though he hated it with a burning passion, was willing to take her stack of paperwork home with him tonight. Riza needed at least one night where she could just relax and not have to worry about whatever newest dumbass situation Fullmetal had gotten himself into. In reality, Riza deserved an entire eternity to be able to relax and sit happily at home curled up with a book and her dog, but all Roy could spare for her was this pleasant evening.

The walk up to Riza's apartment was something Roy had committed to memory ever since the two of them had moved to Central and he needed to help her unpack. He just walked up two flights of stairs, turned into the hallway on his left side, then stood by the fourth door on the right and made sure he still had everything he came with.

His scarf was still creamy white and wrapped around his neck to shield from the cold. He still had his wallet in one coat pocket, and in the other, a ballpoint pen from his office. The package of cookies from the bakery was still a bit warm, and the bow had remained completely intact through Roy's journey. He couldn't see, but he was fairly sure none of the actual cookies had broken up either. Next, Roy sniffed to smell his cologne was in order, but caught a whiff of something else. Was that… smoke?

The smell of smoke was very familiar to Roy. His entire existence in the military was wrapped up with the smell of smoke and fire and ash. But Riza's wasn't. She should smell like gunpowder and lavender, not like something was burning. It was strange, but Roy shrugged the smoke off and knocked on his Lieutenant's door.

He waited a minute, then rang the doorbell. Maybe Riza just hadn't heard the knocking. The doorbell, however, should not only have been louder, but should set Hayate off barking along with it. There was no yapping from the other side of the door. That was even stranger… He was sure that Riza was still at home; he'd seen her car parked in the lot outside.

"Lieutenant," Roy called out through the door, only to be met with more silence. What could Riza be doing in there? "Lieutenant, can you open your door?"

Without realizing it, Roy's heart rate had sped up as he pounded on her wooden door. Riza should have answered by now. She should have been standing in the doorframe, smiling and letting him in. Roy gave the door one last hit with his fist, and the thing moved about an inch, causing smoke to pour out from the top.

Cookies fell to the ground along with Roy's stomach. No… There couldn't be this much smoke pouring out of Riza's apartment! There wasn't any logical explanation for all of this unless something awful had happened.

"Lieutenant! Answer me!" he screamed, not caring about any of the neighbors shushing him. The only person he would have wanted shushing him was trapped in an apartment where something big was currently on fire.

"Hey! Lieutenant Hawkeye! Lieutenant, are you in there? Talk to me!" The pitch of his voice had also risen significantly, and Roy was already at full volume. His furious pounding on the door was now almost too rapid, matching the pace his heart had set in his chest.

This couldn't be happening. Riza couldn't be dying in some apartment fire. She was too strong for that. She was too special for that. That woman was one of the most careful, intelligent people Roy had ever met, and she couldn't meet her end in a fire. She'd endured enough flames to last her a lifetime.

But as impossible as it was, Riza was in her apartment, not answering any of Roy's frantic calls. Roy honestly couldn't tell how large the fire was, or how far it had spread, but he knew that there was much more smoke coming out of the top of the doorframe than should be acceptable. That much smoke could mean that flames were devouring her entire kitchen, or her living room, or any other large area in her house. That much smoke could easily have choked her and knocked her out. Maybe that was why she and her dog weren't answering the door.

Thinking about Riza laying somewhere on the ground, passed out from inhaling the toxic chemicals saturating the air almost made Roy choke, and he beat the door louder with both of his fists. He couldn't lose Riza, not like this, not at all.

"LIEUTENANT!" He screamed, not caring about the gathering onlookers, "RIZA HAWKEYE, ANSWER ME!" He needed to hear her voice again; he needed assurance that she was alive. But none came.

Roy's hands shook as he beat the door and violently shook the knob. Even though it was a fairly cold day out, he was sweating with fear, "DAMN IT LIEUTENANT," he grit his teeth. Yelling was not getting him anywhere, and visions of Riza almost engulfed in flames propelled Roy forward, "I'M BREAKING DOWN THE DOOR!" Even though she obviously couldn't hear him, he felt the need to yell it out just in case. Once he was inside, he could put the fire out using alchemy and assess the rest of the damage.

Everyone else in the hallway moved aside and Roy backed up, prepared to ram into the door. Snapping and blowing it up was definitely not an option; he didn't want to add more fuel to the ongoing fire, or cause any more property damage than he needed.

Roy dropped his scarf and coat at his feet, and ran toward the piece of wood separating himself from his Lieutenant and the danger she was in. He connected with the door, and instantly got the breath knocked out of him. A pain shot up his arm, but he shook it out and glanced at his handiwork.

Hinges cracked, but one of them stayed on, so Roy ignored the pounding in his skull to back up again. He connected this time with his shoulder on the door, and stumbled in on top of the falling white piece of wood. His eyes darted wildly around, searching for the source of the smoke. It was drifting in large quantities from the kitchen… Which was definitely not on fire.

Something in the oven was burning, completely blackened, causing an abnormal amount of smoke to come out of the cracks in the oven door. Apart from that, nothing in the kitchen was out of the ordinary, or the rest of the house for that matter. Roy sighed in relief, but then panicked even more. What was the reason Riza wasn't replying to him then?

He stepped out of the kitchen and into her living room on the right, where he saw Riza, still in her uniform, clutching a struggling Hayate who was on top of her head. The situation was stranger than Roy could ever have imagined.

"Lieutenant," Roy ventured cautiously, his mind still attempting to make sense of what just happened. As he spoke, Hayate spun his little body around and kicked Riza in the face, causing her to release him. The dog ran up to Roy and yipped amiably, wagging his tail. Riza, meanwhile, groaned quietly and opened her eyes.

She looked around, confused, and rubbed her eyes while sitting up. Her hair was now only half-held up by her favorite clip, and her rumpled uniform jacket hung unbuttoned around her slender form. She blinked one more time, then looked up at Roy with an extremely confounded look on her face. It worsened when she spotted her front door on the ground, and smoke flooding the kitchen from behind Roy.

She had no words for the situation and just sat there, watching neighbors tread over her front door-turned-doormat and Roy's nervous smiles.

* * *

By the time Riza got up, confirmed that she was _not_ in a dream, managed to make sense of what had happened, (Roy had been extremely rattled by the smoke coming from her door so he took it upon himself to break in), and kicked all her neighbors out of her apartment, the chicken in her oven actually managed to ignite. Roy put it out by using alchemy to smother the flame, and he took the pathetic attempt at dinner out and hurled it out of a window. While Roy wasn't usually prone to flinging things out of windows, Riza theorized that he did it in order to give Riza a nice laugh and help calm her down about the fire. It partially worked.

Alchemy had also been helpful in removing the smoke from the apartment, leaving only an awful, burnt smell behind. That would be extremely obnoxious to get rid of, but at least no actual property damage had been wrought.

The last thing alchemy had been helpful for was in putting the front door back where it was supposed to go, and at Riza's command, strengthening the locks and bolts keeping everything in place. While she was glad Roy had gotten there in time before her entire living area ignited, the idea that anyone could break her door down unnerved her.

The entire time she and Roy put her apartment back together, Riza did her part of the work in embarrassed silence. Somehow, in her sleep earlier, she'd managed to grab hold of Hayate and secure his position on top of her head, not allowing him to escape, and not allowing her to hear ether the oven timer, or any attempts made by Roy to reach her. Hell, the dog's thick fur had even managed to block out the smell of smoke from her nostrils. Somehow, unconscious Riza had been desperate enough for sleep that she'd held the dog down for a few hours of uninterrupted bliss.

After cleanup was over, Roy grabbed a crumpled package from outside, revealing broken cookies from Riza's favorite bakery. He was also the one to initiate conversation between the two of them, "I'm glad I decided to stop by when I did," he told her in a voice that was more relieved than the voice of a superior officer should be.

"I am too. I honestly don't know how I managed to get into all this insanity," Riza gestured to her kitchen, where her awful-smelling oven sat. Even though his presence relieved her, she would have preferred that he didn't _need_ to demolish her front door because of a fire hazard.

"Just the fact that you're alright is enough for me right now. But you have to promise me to be more careful in the future," Roy smiled, "You can't watch my back if you accidentally catch your oven on fire and die."

The playful jab at the situation comforted Riza, "They can't kill me that easily," she joked back, falling into her old rhythm with him, "Even my dog was trying to smother me and his inside job didn't work."

"I guess so," Roy chuckled, the awkwardness of earlier now completely absent from their conversation, "Speaking of; how _was_ your dog able to smother you?"

"My head was on his spot on the couch," Riza shrugged, deciding the truth was the only option, "I was too tired to move or make him move. And I guess I ended up really enjoying the peace and quiet having him there made, so I held onto it as hard as I could."

Roy almost snorted, and Riza even let out a little laugh. Now that everything was over, Riza could laugh about how ridiculous the entire situation was. Because of an energetic little furball on her head, Riza had managed to catch a chicken on fire. And in the craziness, her superior officer had broken down her door and thrown said chicken out of a third-story window. And in the midst of all the panic, all Riza had done was sleep.

Sure, she'd come close to having a fire on her hands, but it wasn't like she would have died. Despite that, she was glad that Roy had been the one to burst in and save the day. Had she had to handle everything alone, Riza was sure she would have had to pay exorbitant amounts of money to fix all the damages caused, and she also wouldn't have been able to sit at the table now and share a good laugh with a friend.

God, she had needed this. The drudgery of the past week had been awful, but seeing Roy always made up for anything that happened. He was still here for her, and she for him, and they would continue to move forward together in the future, no matter what the world threw at them. Through war, and anti-fraternization laws, and even burning chickens.


End file.
